I have mentioned before that when I first started using amaranth, it wasn't love at first bite. Amaranth was definitely a grain I was slow to add to my cooking. However, this porridge was one of the first recipes that I really learned to love this pseudo-grain. One of the major flavor discoveries along the way: toast the amaranth before you cook it. The flavor profile completely changes and I found I much preferred the flavor of toasted amaranth over the raw flavor.
Given this is a pretty solid grain porridge, there are many ways you can swap things around given your desired tastes and what you might already have on hand.
Grains: Millet, buckwheat and quinoa also work well in place (or with) the amaranth.
Strawberries: The rhubarb is really quite tart and it can be hard to balance the tartness with not going overboard on sweetener. Try adding equal amounts of strawberries to help.
No Coconut: I don't always have coconut on hand but most of the time have cream (or a nut-cream). Feel free to use those in place of the coconut milk.
One of the things I love about amaranth is that, given a plot of land, I could grow it. The plant produces beautiful flowers, edible leaves, and a plethora of tiny seeds. Amaranth cooks in less than 30 minutes and is wonderful for porridges. A few of my favorite amaranth recipes:
Amaranth Porridge with Roasted Pears
Blueberries ‘n’ Cream Amaranth Porridge
Such a lovely looking breakfast! Yum!
The weather has definitely taken a turn for the worse here and this looks like the perfect comforting breakfast for a grey morning.
Hello! I just found your blog and am so happy I did! I am also a musician (flutist), with a bassoonist boyfriend. We're working in China now, but will be returning to Cincinnati (yeah midwesterners!) for him to complete a DMA, and I'll be starting mine. It's great to meet a fellow foodie/musician! Your photos are also beautiful. I'll definitely be visiting often! 🙂
Well hello fellow musician 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Perfect looking breakfast. Coconut + rhubarb is a fun, unique flavour combination. Cannot wait to try it!
Love the coffee cup!
Yummy! I love porridge, I must try this. I like your blog 🙂
Came across this via an aggregation on thekitchn - subscribed now, this recipe looks incredible, though I've no idea what amaranth is. Hopefully I can just ask someone at the store!
HI James, I have a brief resource on amaranth here: https://naturallyella.com/amaranth/
You can usually find it in your local health foods store. Hope that helps!
Hi Erin! First of all, I love your website and your passion for organic, wholesome and alternative foods and ways of cooking. Anyway, I have a question for you: Having been a Coeliac for many years now, I decided to give amaranth another go (as two years ago, I had a cooking disaster with this little grain).
So this morning I cooked up something similar to your Amaranth Porridge (having soaked it for about 13 hours) and unfortunately, my end result tasted quite like grass. So I checked my packet, only to find that I had used puffed amaranth... Is it possible to make your amaranth porridge with puffed amaranth? I just wanted your advice before I throw out the packet once and for all! Ha ha ha! Kind regards, Jade